Now that the whole reunion trip for gore grind granddaddies Carcass has calmed down, guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer has been able to get back to his current — and somewhat longstanding — blues rock outfit Firebird.
If you've not been keeping tabs, the British band celebrate a decade together this year. And to mark the momentous occasion, Steer, bassist Smok Smoczkiewicz and drummer Ludwig Witt have finally completed their fifth full-length album. It follows up Hot Wings, which has been fluttering around since 2006.
Dubbed Grand Union, the new album's 12 tracks were recorded and mixed in an expedient two weeks way back in May of 2008. The task was completed at Berno Studios in Malmö, Sweden, the same facility where Firebird's sophomore effort, 2001's Deluxe, was committed to tape.
Grand Union will see its North American release on June 23. As with its predecessor, Rise Above Records will handle the disc, which benefits from the label's recent distribution deal on this continent with Metal Blade Records.
“[It's] way heavier than the stuff from the last two records” says Steer about the album.
Grand Union:
1. “Blue Flame” 2. “Jack The Lad” 3. “Lonely Road” 4. “Fool For You” 5. “Silent Stranger” 6. “Release Me” 7. “Wild Honey” 8. “Gold Label” 9. “Worried Mind” 10. “See The Light” 11. “Four Day Creep” 12. “Caledonia”
Just when you thought the world couldn't get any more sordid or disgusting, a real piece of craziness comes along to knock your socks off. We're talking about how long-time underground metal label Candlelight Records is proud to announce that they have forged an alliance with Boston-based thrash/grind/crust meat bags Ramming Speed.
It may not seem like that big of a deal to some but those who've heard Ramming Speed's latest effort, Brainwreck, understand how this blatant abuse of power is going to render many currently cool “new wave of thrash metal” bands instantly obsolete and entirely uncool.
What's even greater is that despite the new home, Ramming Speed will honour their commitment to Punks Before Profits Records and issue the seven-inch single they've been working on lately through them.
That ordeal is entitled Always Disgusted, Never Surprised, and was recorded at New Alliance (Converge, Coliseum) with Ethan Dussault as engineer, with Nick Zampiello taking care of mastering. Punks Before Profits plans to issue the 600-strong pressing — with 100 offered as a “tour-only” edition — by summer. The band have posted two of the tracks on their MySpace page, if you want to check 'em out.
The "Let Your Kingdom Come Tour" featuring Strike First bands The Great Commission and Earth From Above kicks off the hottest days of summer on the west coast before moving out to the Cornerstone Music Festival then through the rest of the US.
TOUR DATES:
June 28 - Scottsdale, AZ @ Vertical Venue June 29 - Albuquerque, NM @ Telos House June 30 - Claremore, OK @ King of Clubs July 1 - Cornerstone Festival July 2 - Cornerstone Festival July 3 - Cornerstone Festival July 4 - Cornerstone Festival July 5 - Springfield, IL @ Blacksheep Cafe July 6 - Southgate, MI @ Modern Exchange July 7 - Rochester, PA @ Blue Violet Cafe July 9 - Edinboro, PA @ Edinboro Hangout July 10 - Fredericksburg, VA @ The Refuge July 11 - Crofton, MD @ The Macc July 13 - East Ridge, TN @ The Warehouse July 14 - Gadsden, AL @ The Thunderdome July 16 - Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum July 17 - Gautier, MS @ First United Methodist Church July 18 - Herrin, IL @ Hitt's Cafe July 20 - Joplin, MO @ The Foundry July 21 - Waco, TX @ Art Ambush July 22 - San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit July 23 - Albuqerque, NM @ Telos House July 24 - LA - TBA July 26 - San Marcos, CA @ The Jumping Turtle http://myspace.com/thegreatcommission http://myspace.com/earthfromabove
Arizona based Eyes Set To Kill have streamed their entire new album “The World Outside” online at Eyes Set To Kill. The album is slated to hit stores on June 2nd through BreakSilence Recordings.
"There were things that I put into this record that I've never told anyone before, not even my sister or some of my best friends,” says Eyes Set To Kill’s Alexia Rodriguez. “Writing was like therapy to me, because there are times when I feel so alone that I don't know how to express myself other than through music. This is who I am and what I do.”
Lyrically, Eyes Set To Kill's “The World Outside” is like an unguarded look into the heart and mind of front woman Alexia Rodriguez. It’s here that the singer-songwriter shines brightest, offering listeners a front row seat to watch her battle the singer-songwriter’s darkest demons. Confronting difficult subjects such as her own insecurities, the pain of lost love and dealing with the expectations from fans, Alexia channels it all into the album. The album’s title track confronts her own insecurity of being thrust into the spotlight, while the chilling album closer “Coming Home” is an open letter to her father who abandoned her at an early age.
Formed in 2005 by sisters Alexia and Anissa Rodriguez, Eyes Set to Kill – which also features vocalist/keyboardist Brandon Anderson, second guitarist Greg Kerwin and drummer Caleb Clifton - signed with California based BreakSilence recordings in 2007, the group released their debut full-length “Reach”, and Eyes Set To Kill quickly surpassed their peers on the music industry totem pole and never looked back. The group’s album debuted at #29 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Charts and #77 on Billboard’s Independent Music charts, while the band wasted no time taking to the road with everyone from Drop Dead Gorgeous to BrokeNCYDE, Gwen Stacey and Before Their Eyes.
Eyes Set to Kill is currently on tour with Sky Eats Airplane.
ON TOUR WITH SKY EATS AIRPLANE: 6/01 Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock 6/02 Allston, MA @ Harper's Ferry 6/03 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 6/05 S. Hackensack, NJ @ School Of Rock 6/06 Rochester, NY @ The Club At Water Street Music Hall 6/07 Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar 6/09 Dekalb, IL @ The House Cafe 6/10 Mt Vernon, IL @ The Living Room 6/11 Des Moines, IA @ The House of Bricks 6/12 Colorado Springs, CO @ Black Sheep 6/14 Reno, NV @ Club Underground 6/16 Fresno, CA @ The Starline 6/17 Stockton, CA @ Stockton Empire Theatre 6/18 Bakersfield, CA @ The Dome 6/19 Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction 6/20 Tucson, AZ @ The Rock 6/21 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Live Nation Inc., the world's largest concert promoter, is opening the summer season with a promotion every Wednesday that eliminates some ticket fees, the surcharges that have caused fans to revile its soon-to-be merger partner, Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc.
Live Nation is scrapping fees for U.S. amphitheater lawn seats this summer in a 24-hour sale on its Web site starting at 12:01 a.m. in every local time zone on Wednesday. Fans will save around $9 to $12 on a ticket that typically costs $20 to $25.
Artists playing at the 43 Live Nation venues covered by the promotion include Aerosmith, Coldplay, Phish, Nickelback and Kid Rock. Five million tickets are up for grabs this Wednesday.
The company plans to continue the promotion, though on a smaller scale, every Wednesday this summer.
"We know people hate fees," said Live Nation's chief executive of global music, Jason Garner. "We just want to have one day to say to fans, `We've heard you loud and clear and appreciate your support. Escape and enjoy a great show.'"
Despite the recession, the company said in May that ticket sales for its summer concerts were ahead of last year's pace. Still, there's room to sell many more tickets. Live Nation says about 40 percent of all concert seats go empty. And for a typical summer concert, more than half of the 13,000 lawn tickets at a 20,000-capacity venue are left unsold.
Ticket surcharges usually help pay the ticket-selling company — often Ticketmaster — and the venue owner. The artists typically collect most of their revenue from the base price of the ticket.
By launching its own ticketing Web site in January, Live Nation became able to cut the surcharge in hopes of making that money up in other ways from people coming to the venues it owns.
Live Nation's move to sell its own tickets also threatened to take a 15 percent bite out of Ticketmaster's annual sales. But the companies announced merger plans in February. This proposed combination of the largest ticket-seller and largest concert promoter sparked an antitrust investigation that is still ongoing. The companies expect their merger to be completed in the second half of the year, assuming regulatory approval.
Ticketmaster experimented with its own kind of no-fee tickets starting last year when it baked the surcharges into the price of tickets for Eagles concerts.
After the merger, Garner says, the combined company might adopt the promotional formula Live Nation is trying.
"If it works, everybody benefits," he said. On the Net:
Two of California's most promising young metal acts, thrashers RATTLEHEAD (from Los Angeles) and DEVASTATOR (from Sacramento), will team up for a U.S. tour this summer, bringing their own brand of metallic mayhem to over 40 cities. The trek, appropriately called "Slaughtering The Masses", will be both bands' first cross-country trek, although each has done successful West Coast and regional touring.
RATTLEHEAD (MySpace) has long been a hard-working cornerstone of the Los Angeles metal scene. The group has a committed DIY attitude, as witnessed by previous regional touring and the release of last year's self-financed disc, "Step Inside for the Slaughter", which they are still promoting.
With the release of the group's latest demo/EP, "Burn The Beast", DEVASTATOR (MySpace) has received major accolades from the metal press, radio and fans who recognize the band's commitment to true metal and their continued progression as players and songwriters. The trio will embark on the tour in support of the EP and plans to finalize a label partner this fall upon completion of the dates so they can begin recording their debut before year's end.
"Slaughtering The Masses" U.S. tour 2009
Jul. 10 - Los Angeles, CA @ Sabor Lounge Jul. 11 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Farm Jul. 12 - Phoenix, AZ @ The Sets Jul. 13 - Albuquerque, NM @ [to be announced] Jul. 14 - Wichita Falls, TX @ [to be announced] Jul. 15 - Dallas, TX @ The Alamo Jul. 16 - San Antonio, TX @ [to be announced] Jul. 17 - New Orleans, LA @ [to be announced] Jul. 18 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jackrabbits Jul. 19 - Tampa, FL @ [to be announced] Jul. 20 - Charleston, SC @ [to be announced] Jul. 21 - Raleigh, NC @ Volume 11 Jul. 22 - Richmond, VA @ [to be announced] Jul. 23 - Philadelphia, PA @ [to be announced] Jul. 24 - Clifton, NJ @ Dingbatz Jul. 25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Old Gallery Jul. 26 - Boston, MA @ The Metal Hall Jul. 27 - Meredith, NH @ [to be announced] Jul. 28 - Rochester, NY @ [to be announced] Jul. 29 - Albany, NY @ [to be announced] Jul. 30 - Worcester, MA @ Ralph's Jul. 31 - Baltimore, MD @ Nowarehouse Aug. 01 - Pittsburgh, PA @ 31st Street Pub Aug. 02 - Cleveland, OH @ Now That's Class Aug. 03 - Detroit, MI @ The Temple Aug. 04 - Columbus, OH @ [to be announced] Aug. 05 - Indianapolis, IN @ [to be announced] Aug. 06 - Chicago, IL @ Dougs Rock House Aug. 07 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave Aug. 08 - St. Louis, MO @ [to be announced] Aug. 09 - Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews Aug. 10 - Kansas City, MO @ Riot Room Aug. 11 - Lincoln, NB @ Knickerbockers Aug. 12 - Denver, CO @ [to be announced] Aug. 14 - Salt Lake City, UT @ [to be announced] Aug. 15 - Boise, ID @ Gusto's Aug. 16 - Tacoma, WA @ Station 56 Aug. 17 - Olympia, WA @ Charlie's Aug. 18 - Potland, OR @ [to be announced] Aug. 19 - Medford, OR @ Musichead Aug. 20 - Santa Cruz, CA @ [to be announced] Aug. 21 - San Francisco, CA @ Annie's Aug. 22 - Oakland, CA @ Gilman Aug. 23 - Fresno, CA @ [to be announced]
Spinnerette - A Prescription for Mankind 311 - Uplifter Taking Back Sunday - New Again Drop Dead, Gorgeous - The Hot N' Heavy Subb - To This Beat This Time Next Year - New Sensation Rancid - Let the Dominoes Fall Iwrestledabearonce - It's All Happening
Capital Chaos, founded & created by Zoran Theodorovic was originally created as music video television show to be aired on public access in Sacramento, California. Our first show aired May of 1998 and still runs weekly to this day. In the middle of 2005 Mr Theodorovic invited Clint A. & William P. to participate in the show and a Youtube channel and a website were created. At some point in 2006 Clint went on his way leaving William & Zoran to soldier on, which they did together until January 2012 where William was let go due to irreconcilable differences. Capital Chaos currently enjoys the company of Amb Pirate and Kevin Champ. A new Youtube Channel was created & the website switched to Facebook(because let's face it everybody is on Facebook all the time now and who wants to go to some silly website and miss out on very important Facebook stuff. LOL!!!) and Capital Chaos continues on.
